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Making Money
Making Money is the 36th Terry Pratchett novel in the Discworld series, published in the UK on 20 September, 2007. It is the second novel featuring Moist von Lipwig, and involves the Ankh-Morpork mint and specifically the introduction of paper money to the city. Ankh-Morpork has hitherto not used banknotes. The continuing work of Adora Belle Dearheart (Lipwig's fiancée by this novel) with the Golem Trust is also a feature of the novel. Plot Moist von Lipwig is bored with his job as the Postmaster General of the Ankh-Morpork Post Office, which is running smoothly without any challenges, so the Patrician tries to convince him to take over the Royal Bank of Ankh-Morpork and the Royal Mint. Moist, content with his new lifestyle, refuses. However, when the current chairwoman, Topsy Lavish, dies, she leaves 50% of the shares in the bank to her dog, Mr Fusspot (who already owns 1% of the bank, giving him a majority and making him chairman) - and she leaves the dog to Moist. She also made sure that the Assassins' Guild would fulfill a contract on Moist if anything happens to the dog or if he does not do as her last will commands. Faced with no alternatives, Moist tries to take over the bank and in doing so finds out that people do not trust banks much, that the production of money runs slowly and at a loss, and that people now use stamps as currency rather than coins. His various ambitious changes include making money that is not backed by gold but by the city itself. Unfortunately, neither the chief cashier (Mr. Bent, who is rumored to be a vampire but is actually something much worse) nor the Lavish family are too happy with him and try to dispose of him. Cosmo Lavish tries to go one step further - he is, with the help of his servant, Heretofore (who steals Vetinari's personal effects for a large fee), attempting to replace Vetinari by taking on his identity - with little success. However all the while, the reappearance of a character from von Lipwig's past adds more pressure to his unfortunate scenario. Moist's fiancée, Adora Belle Dearheart, is working with the Golem Trust in the meantime to uncover golems from the ancient civilization of Um. She succeeds in bringing them to the city, and to everyone's surprise the "four golden golems" turn out to be "four thousand golems" (due to a translation error) and so the city is at risk of being at war with other cities who might find an army of 4000 golems threatening. Moist discovers the magic words that control the golems, and manages to order them to bury themselves outside the city (except for a few to power clacks towers and golem horses for the mail coaches) and then decides that these extremely valuable golems are a much better foundation for the new currency than gold and thus introduces the golem-based currency. Eventually, an anonymous clacks message goes out to the leaders of other cities that contains the command that the golems respond to, thus making them unsuitable for using in warfare. At the end of the novel, Lord Vetinari considers the advancing age of the current Chief Tax Collector, and suggests that upon his retirement a new name to take on the vacancy might present itself. Ideas and themes According to Pratchett, Making Money is both fantasy and non-fantasy, as money is a fantasy within the "real world", as "we've agreed that these numbers of conceptual things like dollars have a value." Pratchett argues that an apple is more valuable that gold because you can eat the apple to survive, plant its seeds and grow more apples, whereas gold does nothing. At the bank, research is being carried out with an analogue computer strongly remincient of the MONIAC Computer. This machine is strangely entangled with the discworld reality. Pratchett plays with issues of crime and what constitutes real crime throughout the novel. The novel explores white collar crime in the bankers' profiting off and stealing from their shareholders who might just be people who have invested their life savings and lost everything, as in the case of the Roundworld banking collapses and the various Wall Street scams. These people do no jail time and are "pillars of the community". On the other hand, Moist and Heretofore steal from people who are hoping to profit off others - in fact they scam the scammers, yet their non-violent crimes are capital offenses. Moist is forever stealing Drumknott's pencils, which confirms in Vetinari's mind that Moist's criminal mind is still in evidence and that he is not completely reformed. In the novel, the citizens of Ankh-Morpork are protesting against the employment of the Golems. Throughout Pratchett's novels, the Golems and the fact that they work for free 24/7 (almost) has its Roundworld equivalent in western multinational companies outsourcing their work, jobs and factories to the lowest paying third world countries and in immigrants coming to western countries and "taking the jobs of the citizens there." Companies, with no allegiance to anything but the bottom line are only too quick to hire Golems/robots/Indians/Chinese, etc over more expensive local workers. And Golems/Indians/Chinese, etc are only too willing to do any job available when they move to a new country to try to get ahead and get blamed for the problems the multinationals have created in the first place - even though they are usually taking jobs that no one else wants. Trump's campaign in the USA election and the rise of extremism in western Europe have played on this prejudice extensively. Continuity This novel was written just prior to the major financial crisis of 2008, but there were enough warnings that the banks were in a mess, that Pratchett could not be considered prescient, merely very astute in his characterization of the corruption, the shady characters and the arrogant belief that the bankers knew everything and that the average person 'did not understand' the situation. Unfortunately, in Roundworld there was no Vetinari to bring the bankers to heel, instead they got off unscathed, not one went to jail and, in fact, they were rewarded for their incompetence and unmitigated self serving gall by being bailed out by major governments around the world, most significantly the British and American governments and the respective taxpayers of those countries. The Canadian banking system, with its tighter regulatory controls, was one of the few that remained relatively unaffected and did not require a bailout. In this book the century on the Discworld has changed, and is now the Century of the Anchovy. This had been noted in the epilogue of the previous Moist von Lipwig novel, Going Postal. The Koom Valley Business referred to at the beginning is a reminder of the events of the previous novel Thud! '' where war between the Dwarfs and Trolls was prevented by the actions of Sam Vimes. Adora Belle Dearheart and the Golem Trust return. Like ''Going Postal, ''the previous Moist von Lipwig book, Making Money'' is separated into actual chapters. At the beginning of each chapter is a short summary of what the chapter is about. This is a similar approach to that of Victorian morality tales, giving the reader a taste of what is to come in the chapter. Unlike Going Postal, Making Money actually has a chapter eight, the number that is not spoken in Discworld. Whether this is because Pratchett got sloppy or because the impact of superstitions of the number eight has diminished in the new century of the Anchovy is never explained. Dave's Pin Emporium has now become Dave's Stamp and Pin Emporium or Exchange. Clearly stamps have become a much more profitable venture than pins. Popular References The references in the Chapter one heading include: Golem with a blue dress, a likely reference to the 1964 song Devil with a Blue Dress On ''by Shorty Long and William "Mickey" Stevenson, first performed by Long and released as a single in 1964. It went nowhere until it was redone in 1966 '' ''by Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels. A "blue dress" is also a metaphor for an illusion, appropriate for a golem who is being a woman when golems evidently have no gender. Another heading, ''Crime and Punishment is the title of a novel by Dostoevsky which involved theft and guilt about the theft. No kindness to bears '' may be a play on the popular children's stuffed toy "Care Bears" or as is more likely a reference to bear markets in the stock exchange. Given the subject of money, ''The hanging man ''could be a reference to the '''bearish reversal' pattern, found in an uptrend of price charts of financial assets. The name of the protagonist, Moist von Lipwig, is very appropriate for a con man, which Moist was when he was known as Albert Spangler in "a previous life". 'Lip Wig' is slang for a 'moustache' a common addition to a disguise. 'Moist' suggests 'slippery', also a common con man trait. When Moist is climbing up the side of the Post Office he is startled by pigeons flapping; a classic suspense trick used in many movies and in fact a standard in many James Bond movies; License to Kill, For Your Eyes Only ''and ''The LIving Daylights to name a few. Similarly, when Moist swings through the window into his office building, he is following in the long standing TV and movie tradition of villains and heroes escaping by launching themselves through a plate of glass to freedom; everyone from James Bond to Chuck. Throughout the novel there are parallels with the board game of Monopoly. Moist emphasizes that the paper money he is making is worth only what we value it at (using the wealth of the city as a benchmark) much like Monopoly money which has a value only in the game. The original Monopoly pieces were taken from a girls' charm bracelet and over the years pieces have included a pair of boots (Cosmo Lavish stole a pair from Vetenari's butler). There is a little dog in the novel, Mr. Fusspot. Moist revitalizes his top hat. Moist's female golem, Gladys, does the ironing. Mr. Jenkins considers a battleship as a motif for the bills he's designing. Adora Belle gives Moist a golem horse, which he rides (the horse and rider figure'). ''Other golem '''horses are discovered in the underground 'tomb'. Dibbler asks Moist for a loan to buy a wheelbarrow. Taken singly one might think that this is simply a coincidence but the disparate choice of items and Pratchett's style in other instances of this type suggest that it was entirely intentional. The line, "we encouraged mongooses to breed in the posting boxes to keep down the snakes... to reduce the number of toads" is a reference to the countless Roundworld blunders where animals were introduced to control a pest and became another pest instead; mongooses in Hawaii to control rats, cane toads in Australia, snakehead fish, etc. 'If it's about the cabbage-flavoured stamp glue-' Moist began.' This is a running gag that has made its way through several books beginning with Going Postal; ''the most recent reference being to Vimes' statement in ''Thud!: '"Remember the cabbage-scented stamp last month?...They actually caught fire if you put too many of them together!"'. The stamp called the lovers which requires a large magnifying glass to see the alleged impropriety pokes fun at the zealots of the Roundworld who look for sexual references in everything, often going to ridiculous extremes like playing records backwards to prove their point that the object of their assault is "smut". When offered the option of the position at the bank or staying at the post office, Moist expects to find a huge pit behind the door in Vetinari's office like in Going Postal. ''Instead there is only a door with a room behind it. This is like the Lady and the Tiger analogy, where you have to guess what is going to be behind the mystery door and get the lady or be eaten by the tiger. Lord Vetinari says that "You have to consider the psychology of the individual" which is a reference to PG Wodehouse's Jeeves and Wooster series of books; an expression that Jeeves uses regularly. The Tanty Bugle with its 'orrible crime' is a take off on such 'true crime' magazines and periodicals as 'The Police Gazette' and 'The Newgate Calendar, the latter subtitled The Malefactors' Bloody Register, which was a popular work of improving literature in the 18th and 19th centuries. Originally a monthly bulletin of executions, produced by the Keeper of Newgate Prison in London, the Calendar's title was appropriated by other publishers, who put out biographical chapbooks about notorious criminals such as Sawney Bean, Dick Turpin, John Wilkes and Moll Cutpurse. As Pratchett points out, these tabloids provide a vicarious thrill for those normal law abiding citizens who lead dull boring little lives. Moist's thoughts, "Why do they always build banks to look like temples" is a reference to the fact that banks and churches, in phallic splendor, have both through the ages always aimed to be the highest building around, accentuating their importance, power and wealth while those who support and fund them often live in poverty The Elim, the smallest coin of all, traditionally made by widows "and of course it's handy to drop in the charity box". In the Bible, Jesus's parable of ''the widow's mite'', in which the smallest coin of all, donated by a poor widow, has more value than all the gold ostentatiously placed in there by the Pharisees, simply because it is all she has to give. The line, "''Food gets you through times of no gold better than gold gets you through times of no food is a reworking of ''Shelton and Mavrides' hippy maxim, used in their comic books about the alternative lifestyle trio ''The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers'', which originally states:- "''Dope gets you through times of no money better than money gets you through times of no dope." ''And of course one of the greatest strains of marijuana of all times according to ''HIgh Times ''magazine was Acapulco ''Gold.'' Topsy Lavish naturally has a maiden name of Turvy - Topsy Turvy meaning upside down or in total confusion, much like the bank she manages. The Lavishes are very reminiscent of the Borgias or the Medicis with the same extended family, devious infighting, desire for political power and political connections everywhere and Pratchett is likely using both families as a model. The most famous Borgia dynasty includes Cesare and Lucrezia "Lucci" Borgia who are mirrored in Making Money by Cosmo Lavish and Pucci Lavish. Cosimo de Medici was the first of the Medici to become ruler (Patrician?) of Florence. Both families were well know for using poison for disposing of their enemies, much like Cosmo Lavish plans. In addition, Pucci is the name of another influential family from Florence who were political allies of the Medici family, particularly Cosimo. Moist asks Shady if they have a problem with clipping and sweating. These are two methods of getting metal off coins made of precious metals like gold and silver. Clipping means to take small undetectable pieces of metal off the edges of a coin and sweating is done by putting a number of coins in a bag and shaking them until they produce dust which is collected. Both the dust and the clippings are melted into a lump of gold or silver. The other methods mentioned by Shady, painting, plating, plugging and re-casting involve respectively, painting a non-precious metal to look like gold or silver, covering a non-precious metal with a thin plate of precious metal, cutting a hole in the centre of the coin and then filling it in (plugging) with a non-precious metal and pounding it to fill in the hole (hence the expression 'not worth a plugged nickel') and recasting the coin with an additive such as copper so that it looks the same but has less gold or silver in it. In fact, modern coins could be said to be 'recast' in that there is little or no precious metal in them and they are cast from a mix of non-precious metals or of non-precious and some precious metal mixed in. Bent explains to Moist that he has "Nichtlachen-Keinwortz Syndrome" which deprives him of a sense of humour. Nichtlachen Keinwortz translated from German means roughly "Do not laugh at no words". Mr. Shady explains that it costs more to make a coin, particularly one of small denomination, than it is worth and that they have to work more overtime to make enough money to pay their overtime, which in turn leads to more overtime, etc. This resonates with bureaucracies throughout the Roundworld, particularly in government where there have been examples of a new tax actually bringing in no revenue because of the cost of creating the infrastructure needed to collect and administer the tax. According to Pratchett, the Glooper is directly taken from Roundworld's Phillips Economics Computer, a bizarre but effective water-powered machine devised in 1949, but which was so good at reproducing an economic cycle that the last of the Phillips machines were still going strong in economics schools in the early 1990s, - when orthodox computer power had finally caught up with hydrology, and could finally replicate what the machines had been doing for nearly fifty years. There was a series of early computers called MANIAC, but these used conventional vacuum-tube technology- MANIAC only one letter away from MONIAC (Money). In addition, a protoype nuclear reactor, one of the first to be built in the world, was called the ''GLEEP''' (Graphic Low Energy Experimental Pile) by its British inventors. Terry Pratchett worked for the British nuclear power agency, a sucessor to the company that built the GLEEP, and cannot have been unaware of this. The Glooper has been invented by Hubert Turvy with the assistance of an Igor. Hubert is describe as a 'proper Hubert' which should be a good euphemism for a 'real geek' if it isn't already. Hubert has all the traits of a mad scientist' the maniacal laugh, the apparently crazy schemes that turn out to be not so crazy after all, the loyal assistant who is ready to desert him when the mob arrives, etc. When Hubert demonstrates the Glooper for Moist's benefit, the machine shows exactly what happens in Reagonomics "trickle down" economics as jobs become scarce, people have less disposable income, etc. Hubert mentions that "hemlines tend to rise in times of national crisis". This is the opposite of what supposedly happens in Roundworld and which is referred to as "Hemline Economics". Supposedly when people are more confident in the economy they are more daring and hence spend money on the latest fashions. When the economic climate is pessimistic they dress conservatively and hemlines lower. There are many arguments that this theory is at best an oversimplification and at worse, meaningless. The name of the town of "Big Cabbage" is a take off on New York, the "Big Apple". Its cabbage themed events, giant Cabbage, etc are a take off on all those towns which try to create some tourist attraction to turn their boring town into a destination - particularly popular in small town Canada with Vegreville and its giant Ukrainian Easter Egg, Sudbury with its giant nickel, Duncan with the world's largest hockey stick, WaWa with the world's largest Canada goose, Colborne with the world's largest apple, etc etc. The reference book of the important people of Ankh-Morpork "Whom's Whom" is a take off on the Roundworld reference "Who's Who". Pratchett gives it a grammatical spin - confusing "whom" and "who" is a very common error - so the reader is left wondering which is the grammatically correct title. The Lavishes were old money which "meant that it had been made so long ago that the black deeds that had originally filled its coffers were now historically irrelevant. In the Roundworld there are numerous families who made their fortunes by rum running and bootlegging during prohibition such as the Kennedys and Bronfmanns. When Topsy Lavish dies, Death says to her, ONE SHOULD ALWAYS TAKE CARE OF ONE'S POSTERITY" She replies that the "Lavishes can kiss my bum" Pratchett is playing on 'posterity' (future) and 'posterior' (buttocks), here when Topsy confuses the words. Topsy Lavish leaving her money and the chairmanship of the bank to her dog is surprisingly not far fetched. Emperor Caligula made his horse a senator of Rome. American millionaire hotelier Leona Helmsley left her Maltese dog, Trouble, $12M in her will. Vetinari says to Moist, "The city bleeds.... and you are the clot I need." a play on clotting the blood to stop the bleeding but also 'clot' which is slang for 'a fool'. Moist signs, here and here and here and here, etc when taking over the bank, much like anyone applying for a bank loan and being required to sign an endless array of forms. Sacharissa Cripslock refers to Moist as 'a dog and his master' which has a number of Roundworld connections and references. Firstly, it is an Aesop fable in which the dog that was of great service to its master when young, is beaten when he is old because he can no longer do the same service. Secondly there is a conneciton to the old advertisement with the HMV dog Nipper and the line "His Master's Voice" which was a standard on all early HMV, then EMI, then RCA recordings (as the original company was sold on). When Moist and his chef are discussing meals, the chef lists all the things he cooks, all of which are offal and by way of the pun never stated, 'awful'. Pratchett used this joke in ''The Truth '' as well. When his chef explains that he is allergic to 'garlic', the word not the substance, Pratchett is drawing on Monty Python type material - the salesman who reacts in a silly way when customers ask for a mattress, is one such sketch. The Roundworld "Jack Proust" is an aging comic and the central character ''The First 100 Years ''the award winning show written and performed by former clown Geoff Hoyle. When Moist accidentally says 'garlic' his chef says "nom d'une bouilloire? pourquoi est-ce que je suis hardiment ri sous cape à part les dieux". A rough translation of this from the French would be "in the name of a kettle? why is it that I boldly chuckle except under the cape of the gods". The grammar for this translation is very poor however. French swear words differ from English ones in that the English language generally focuses on sexual or bodily references while the French focus on religious references. So this is likely Pratchett playing with the use of illogical French words to poke fun at French swearing. It is very similar to the kind of common words that Tintin uses to swear (since his audience includes children) in that graphic novel series. "The leopard doesn't change its shorts" is a malapropism play on the old saying "the leopard doesn't change its spots" (people don't reform or change) as well as the idea of 'having to change one's shorts" after having an accident in them from being scared. This line is used throughout Pratchett's novels. In this one, at the end, the leopard does change its shorts. The line on Von Lipwig's draft bank note, "Ad Urbem Pertinet" is Latin for "It Belongs to the City". The following line on his bank note says, "promitto fore ut possessori postulanti nummum unum solvem an apte satisfaciam" which refers to the inscription on English banknotes, beneath the words Bank of England, which read "I promise to pay the bearer on demand the sum of" followed by the denomination of the note. Originally this meant the note would be exchanged by the bank for the equivalent value in gold; however since Britain abandoned the gold standard the phrase is entirely decorative. The line, "Bent stood up in one unfolding moment, like a jack-in-the-box." foreshadows his re-emergence as a clown at the climax of the book. The Cabinet of Curiosity in the Unseen University is likely a parallel to the Cabinets of Curiosities found in many museums which are modeled on the Cabinet of Natural Curiosities, a natural history by Albertus Seba. The back cover of the book has a plate of a giant squid and the wizards ask whether Moist or Adora have seen one in the hallways, as if it has escaped from the Cabinet. Such strange and wonderful creatures are a common feature of such collections. Moist initially makes the same mistake as William de Worde and oithers and assumes that just because Nobby Nobbs requires proof of species, he's the "Watch Werewolf". He misses the obvious clue when Angua squeaks Mr. Fusspots rubber bone, over and over absentmindedly, when he is being delivered to Moist. However, by the end of the novel, when he sees how Mr. Fusspot reacts to Angua, he knows the truth. Moist comments that there is no god of banking. In Roundworld the nearest is the Roman God Saturn who was the god of wealth, among other things. The Patron Saint of Bankers is the Apostle, Saint Matthew. The unusual font indicating the archaic language of Formal Golem uses the Enochian alphabet created by the 16th Century mathematician and astronomer John Dee. (Himself a Discworld character in ''The Science of Discworld II: the Globe, where he hosts visiting Wizards from Discworld In Elizabethan London, Dee lived at Mortlake, which is also a location in Ankh-Morpork)). It uses letter by letter substitution to create the desired effect. The Formal Golem language is designated as appropriate to a near-contemporary of Umnian's multi-meaninged tongue. The characters for r/m, i/y, c/k, and u/v/w are effectively indistinguishable, (much like English before i/j and u/v became separate letters)and the s and e are quite similar. Translated, Adora Belle says "I can speak formal golem." In Formal Golem, Flead first says, "You make eternity bearable!" and then asks "Why do you care about golems? They have no passionate parts!" The Goddess Anoia has gone from being a minor goddess in charge of stuck drawers to a major one who might be in line for the position of goddess of lost causes. This is all thanks to Moist in ''Going Postal. ''Her temple with its kitchen implements stuck on the wall is very reminiscent of places like Lourdes and St. Anne de Beaupre in Quebec where those "cured" have left their crutches and other items they "no longer need" behind. The scene where Moist and Adora briefly believe Gladys the Golem has killed Mr. Fusspot is based on the "bunny boiler" scene from Fatal Attraction. At the end of the novel, it is revealed that Mavolio Bent, the head cashier has run away from the circus to join the bank, which is a reversal of the old canard about staid upright figures giving it all up to join the circus. It also resonates with Malvolio in Shakespeare's ''Twelth Night. ''Both names have obvious connections to the the French world for evil or bad - Mal. Bent is a slang term for someone who has been bought and is crooked. As an interesting parallel, British Prime Minister, John Major came from a family of trapeze artists and he was jokingly refered to as the only person who ran away from the circus to become an accountant. Perhaps Pratchett was drawing on him in his character of Mavolio Bent. The clue to the crossword in the Times is "Shaken players shift the load (nine letters)". The answer is to shake up a nine letter word for players (Orchestra) and make something that shifts a load (Cart horse). External links Promotional Items in the UK Hardcover 1st Edition Some High Street booksellers have additional exclusive promotional material glued under the inside of the dust jacket: *Borders include an Ankh-Morpork cheque book *Waterstone's include a few Ankh-Morpork bank notes References Category:Novels Category:Moist von Lipwig series Category:Books Category:Books (real-world)